Upon receipt of Susanna Hicks'
reference to the New York Times article of 9
August ref. the (misleadingly titled) article
concerning the internet sale of "Mein Kampf" and
the reactions of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, I
immediately logged on to the article to see what
it was all about.

I have this to say. Are the people at the
Simon Wiesenthal Centre completely off their
heads in trying to block the internet sale of
"Mein Kampf" to would-be German purchasers? Not
only is the book a key historical document, but
yet again - or should it be, "here we go again"?
- their actions raise the question of
censorship. Admittedly, of course, the German
authorities are equally to blame in banning the
distribution of the book in Germany, especially
through home-grown booksellers. On the other
hand, of course, nobody can stop any German from
reading this important and key text in the
comfort of a local or university library.

The whole thing strikes me as a total
nonsense, especially since it is quite insulting
to present-day Germans to try to "limit" their
reading in case they are seduced by what Hitler
had to say.

Something else about the Simon Wiesenthal
Centre's actions greatly worries me. Will they
next get it into their heads to try to "ban" the
sale and even the reading of this historical
text elsewhere in the world? Really, enough is
enough of this "nanny-like" posturing.

FRANKFURT,
Germany (AP) --Bavarian officials said
Wednesday they're looking into possible
legal steps to stop U.S. Internet
companies from selling Hitler's
"Mein Kampf," which is banned along with
other Nazi propaganda in
Germany.

In an interview on Hesse state radio in
Frankfurt, Bavarian finance ministry
spokesman Horst Wolff said the
western allies gave Bavaria, a southeast
German state, all rights to "Mein Kampf"
after World War II. He said Bavaria
intends to protect those rights.

Germany's foreign ministry has been
asked to check what legal action Bavaria
could take against U.S. booksellers that
offer the book in Germany, Wolff said.

Wolff's comments came as German
officials are searching for ways to stop
Germans from buying Nazi propaganda from
foreign Internet sites.

Under German law, books espousing Nazi
philosophy are banned from public display
or sale. Violations are punishable by up
to five years in prison.

Our
opinion

THANK
goodness for the German government. Mein
Kampf is one of the most boring books ever
written (aside from the more recent
offerings by Goldhagen and Finkelstein).
During our writing career we asked every
surviving top Nazi whether they had read
it from cover to cover; none had.
Field
Marshal Milch said he got as far as page
17. We surmise that it was other factors
than Mein Kampf that led to the triumph of
the National Socialist movement in
Germany.

The
above news item is reproduced without editing other
than typographical